38% of Albertans approve of Smith's job as premier and 33% like how she's handled separatism. A majority of Albertans disapprove of both Danielle Smith’s performance as premier and of her handling of the separatism issue, according to a new Ipsos poll that also found Albertans on both ends of the debate believe Smith supports the opposite side of their...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is set to kick off his campaign to promote a “stronger Alberta within a united Canada” in a keynote speech in Calgary on Monday. In an excerpt shared with CTV News ahead of the speech, Poilievre is expected to promote Alberta staying in Canada, while also calling for new government policies to address separatist concerns. “We...
Liberal Caucus Chair James Maloney is vehemently denying the prime minister has a caucus management problem, pushing back on reporting from this week citing unnamed Liberal MPs accusing Mark Carney of being dismissive of the concerns they were raising, and yelling. Several MPs told the Toronto Star this week that Carney has a penchant for lashing out at caucus members...
As this country seeks to diversify trade partners amid strained relations with the United States, a former top Canadian soldier is warning the Canadian government against pivoting to China at the expense of Ottawa’s relationship with Washington. “Geography matters,” said retired Gen. Wayne Eyre, former chief of the defence staff, said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday...
Political party leaders should make up their minds and either outright appoint candidates, or hold transparent nomination elections, because when parties manipulate the process to get the results they want, it dampens morale and undermines the confidence of grassroots members, say party players. In an interview with The Hill Times, former national director of the Liberal Party Jamie Carroll said...
This latest wave of Abacus Data’s federal political tracking finds the political environment becoming more competitive after several months of steadily improving conditions for Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberal government. Government approval has fallen noticeably from its record high. Carney’s personal ratings have softened. The Liberal lead over the Conservatives has narrowed. At the same time, Canadians have...
Only two-in-ten Albertans plan to vote in favour of holding a future separation vote in the October 19th referendum
One of the basic skills of being a politician revolves around how to avoid an unwelcome question. Some are pretty good at it, either deflecting or changing the subject, frustrating though it may be to journalists. Some, less expert, are visibly awkward. Others, the ones who can master charming candour, simply say, “I can’t answer that question.”
Regular readers know that this column has not been an inexhaustible source of flattering reflections on the Carney government. This makes it a particular pleasure to support a number of the prime minister’s initiatives last week. The tenor of his speech to the Economic Club of New York was a complete change from the antagonism of his confected Churchillian defiance...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is expected to argue a change in federal policies would ease separatist concerns in Alberta when he makes a speech in Calgary on Monday. In an excerpt of that speech shared with The Canadian Press, Poilievre says separatist voices do not have an issue with their fellow Canadians, "they have a problem with the federal government."...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Europe on Thursday, visiting Ireland and France for the G7 summit. The summit is running from June 15 to June 17 in Evian-les-Bains and France says the focus will be on reducing global inequalities. The summit was delayed by a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the White House would host...
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon’s recent acknowledgment that new legislation may be needed to accelerate approvals for major projects is an admission of long-standing failure. Canada’s regulatory system for infrastructure and resource development has become slow, uncertain, and politicized. While Ottawa now speaks of one or two year approval windows and continues expanding entities like the Major Projects Office, deeper...
The poll numbers sting. The numbers should sting, if you are for Alberta splitting from Canada. Article content It appears, in this early snapshot in time, the Alberta separatists are spinning their wheels.
If there is one common theme in much of the Canadian commentariat of late that I cannot understand, it’s the hostility to Pete Hoekstra, the United States ambassador to Canada. How do you guys not realize he is perfect? We could not ask for a better American ambassador to our country at this time.
Mark Carney's Liberal government wants Canada to embrace the arrival of artificial intelligence technology. It apparently believes that, for the country's economic sake, Canada needs to embrace AI. But it, quite reasonably, sees Canadians' lack of trust in AI as an obstacle. "Trust is the North Star of this strategy," the Carney government said in the AI strategy it released...
Words matter in politics. Few carry the weight of ‘recession’, a term that doesn’t just describe an economic condition, but conjures one in the public imagination. Mass layoffs. Shuttered businesses. Families in crisis. You don’t even need to prove a recession is happening to cause harm with the word. You just need to say it loudly enough, often enough, that...
This week, there were competing political messages regarding the state of the Canadian economy: the Conservatives labelled it a full-blown recession, while the Liberals and economists pushed back on that notion. Political insiders Greg MacEachern, Mélanie Richer and Fred DeLorey stop by Power & Politics for the Political Pulse Panel, where they also weigh in on everything from the challenges...
Donald Trump’s man in Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra, managed to achieve the trifecta of Canadian journalism this week: he had pundits from three leading papers across the political spectrum calling for his head. On the left, more or less, John Lorinc argued in the Star that the Carney government “should kick Hoekstra out” for retweeting a Trump jibe about Canada being...
The latest. The freshest numbers. Let's go straight to the math of the Postmedia-Leger poll on the October referendum question. The envelope please. Alberta should remain a province of Canada. 68 per cent. The government of Alberta should commence the legal process required to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada. 24 per cent.
One day, Steven Guilbeault, Justin Trudeau’s activist environment minister, quit Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus. The next, the Prime Minister was in New York to sell CEOs and fund managers on investing in Canada, touting this country as an energy superpower that could help “make America great again.” Things have changed. The style is a long way from Mr. Trudeau’s era...
Yes, Donald Trump and Pete Hoekstra’s tag-team 51st-state trolling this week was symptomatic of just how insane our bilateral relations with the United States have become. But what’s truly worth noting is what started out Monday as the subtext of Trump’s revived annexation threat — pegged to Canada’s now-notorious “technical recession” as all the more reason to capture the country...
As Canada seeks to rearm and move to a modern, effective military capable of defending this country and meeting its treaty obligations to allies, the procurement choices underway by the Carney government will have implications far beyond the type of submarines and jet fighters necessary to meet those goals. The government is committed to buying new jet fighters to replace...
Jim Dinning tells the Post’s John Ivison why he is sympathetic to Premier Danielle Smith’s push to give separatists the chance to express their strongly held sentiments in a referendum
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had a concise way of describing the job’s main responsibility. Of all the files that land on a prime minister’s desk, he liked to say, two can never be delegated to anyone else: national unity, and the relationship with the United States.
The political significance of 2 consecutive quarters of bad GDP data. Pierre Poilievre popped up before reporters who were waiting outside a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and in the span of 10 minutes the Conservative leader managed to use the word "recession" more than two dozen times. "Mr. Trump's policies are affecting all G7 countries, and none of them are...
We recall last year when U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said that annexation talk was over. “From my standpoint, from the President’s standpoint, 51st state’s not coming back,” he said. “It’s done.” Yeah, sure. This week Donald Trump posted “51st State” on Truth Social. It came with a link to an article about the Canadian economy dipping into a recession, the...
Dominic LeBlanc, Mark Carney’s point minister on Canada-U.S. relations, was no doubt feeling the pressure as he landed in Washington on Tuesday to kick-start trade talks with Donald Trump’s administration. But it’s less pressure than he was facing last year, according to some new polling from Abacus Data. Canadians’ anxiety about Trump’s trade war has declined sharply from 2025, Abacus...
Are Canadians worried? Apparently not. So what's wrong with us? Has 'elbows up' gone to our heads?
In the course of researching my biography on Irwin Cotler, I spoke with his old McGill debating partner, Moses Znaimer, the CityTV and MuchMusic founder. In typically unfiltered Znaimer fashion he wondered aloud what the former Liberal party justice minister thought about his old party, “which betrayed the Jewish community, in favour of the huge Muslim influx, of which they...
Watching Canada slide toward another episode of national unity trauma has been profoundly saddening for those of us who lived through the country’s last, near-death encounter with a secession crisis. In 1995, I was serving as assistant secretary of constitutional affairs in the Privy Council Office, responsible for generating policy arguments and messaging for the federalist coalition. The last stage...
There’s a fantasy among some Alberta separatists that Quebec separatists are their friends. Not likely. They are risky company for an Alberta politician of any stripe. As Premier Danielle Smith visits Quebec for friendly talks with the new premier, Christine Frechette, she knows who to avoid. It’s much noted in Quebec that the separatist Parti Quebecois could win a provincial...
To start the week, in this column space, you would have read how Alberta Premier Danielle Smith gave us a ballpark price tag for Alberta leaving Canada and becoming its own country. It was a ballpark number. Around $400 billion in start-up costs for an independent Alberta. $25 billion to $50 billion in yearly costs.
Ontarians could soon be facing a massive energy bill. Electricity demand between now and 2050 will likely double, according to projections, and to meet it Doug Ford’s government intends to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new nuclear reactors alone. Throw in anticipated refurbishments of existing reactors, plus new transmission lines and other power generation projects, and the costs...
Someone tuning in to the victory address by new B.C. Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay could have been forgiven if they thought they’d somehow stumbled across a speech being given by a U.S. Republican from Texas. “In our national anthem, we cry out to God to make our land glorious and free,” Ms. Findlay told the gathering of Conservative party faithful...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith drops a political bomb, a financial bomb, a bomb dropped on the separatist assumptions of way more gain than pain by Alberta leaving Canada and striking out on its own. Almost $400 billion in start-up costs to set up an independent Alberta. Roughly $80,000 for every Albertan. Somewhere between $25 billion and $50 billion in yearly...
Behind the closed doors of a Liberal caucus meeting this spring, things grew heated between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste. The two traded responsibility for the government’s shaky relationship with Indigenous groups, in an intense exchange that played out in front of all the other Liberal MPs gathered on the second floor of West Block...
Leader's dinner held in Calgary Friday night was largest in party's history. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spoke to a sold-out crowd of more than 2,000 United Conservative Party (UCP) supporters Friday night, where she made her pitch on why Alberta should remain in Canada. "I still believe Canada can work. I believe it's working better every day, and it can...
First up this week, Prime Minister Carney summed up a critical week in the Canada-US trade discussions with the phrase, "some progress". So what does that mean? Plus the AI strategy. Then both Bruce Anderson and Chantal Heebert discuss the fall of an iconic broadcast network -- CBS and the "60 Minutes" debacle.
- Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard is pitching his party as the only resolutely federalist option in Quebec as it will likely face off against the separatist Parti Quebecois in the general election scheduled for October. "On the referendum issue, the (Coalition Avenir Quebec) is indecisive. Some say they are in the 'No' camp. Others are proud sovereigntists," he told...
Former foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion says Canada needs to substantially staff up its embassies in Europe and set deadlines for following through on the flurry of agreements Brussels has signed with Ottawa. Dion's comments come after Canada's former military chief said Ottawa must stop cutting back on diplomats to boost defence spending. "These agreements and partnerships must not remain...
GlobalEye supply chain could be used for major Gripen project as negotiations continue. The federal government is looking at expanding the military's fighter fleet beyond its original plan for 88 jets, according to industry and government sources. Negotiations are underway for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to acquire a larger mixed fleet of American-made Lockheed Martin F-35s and Saab Gripen-E...
The Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit has been "essentially complete" since February, but a major lawsuit challenging Canada's decision to build it may not reach trial until 2027 or 2028, according to a newly obtained federal briefing note. The information was contained in the heavily redacted briefing note prepared for federal Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor...
Other cabinet members lining up behind Smith's pledge to vote to stay. But Devin Dreeshen avoids answering. Alberta’s transportation minister declined on Friday to say whether he’d vote for or against his province remaining in Canada, becoming the first cabinet minister to publicly avoid taking what Premier Danielle Smith says is the anti-separation stance of her cabinet, caucus and party...
Support for Alberta separatism has declined since the beginning of 2026, according to a new Ipsos poll conducted for Global News. The survey conducted between May 28 to June 1 found 19 per cent of Albertans said they would vote this fall to hold a separate binding separation referendum, while 72 per cent would check off the box to remain...
Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith has sent an email to supporters confirming he will resign his seat in the House of Commons and inviting volunteers to an event to celebrate his decade of public service. He was elected in Beaches-East York in 2015 and briefly served as housing minister in Justin Trudeau's final cabinet and Mark Carney's first cabinet. Erskine-Smith's email...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the law will be enforced if First Nations communities engage in civil disobedience over her government's separation referendum. At an unrelated news conference in Calgary Friday, she said: "I hope it doesn't come to that." On Oct. 19, Albertans will vote on whether they want to stay in Canada or start the process to hold...
The unofficial authority on recession calls in Canada says it's too soon to use that word to describe the sluggish economy. Debate has raged on Parliament Hill over whether the country is in a recession since Statistics Canada reported last week that the economy contracted for two quarters in a row. The C.D. Howe Institute's Business Cycle Council is traditionally...
A surprisingly strong May jobs report has reinforced many economists' views that the Canadian economy is not in a recession. Statistics Canada reported Friday that the economy added 88,000 jobs in May, topping economists' expectations for a gain of 10,000 positions. The agency said the unemployment rate fell to 6.6 per cent last month, down from 6.9 per cent in...
Sunwing Vacations and WestJet Vacations will indefinitely suspend operations in Cuba “until further notice.” Sunwing Vacations Group, which includes Sunwing Vacations, WestJet Vacations, and WestJet Vacations Québec, announced it would cut Cuban operations temporarily back in April but said they would resume in October. In a statement to CTV News, media representatives did not provide specifics as to why they...
The labour market rebounded with a surprise gain of 88,000 jobs in May, partially offsetting a bigger drop in employment since the start of the year, Statistics Canada said Friday. The agency said the unemployment rate fell to 6.6 per cent in May, down from 6.9 per cent in April. StatCan said May’s gains were the first significant increase in...
Announcements are coming fast and furious from the Liberal government, on everything from major projects to immigration to foreign trade and defence. But Canadians want to see actual action. We look at Mark Carney’s promises and progress in 16 areas, plus where the Trudeau government left things. And we’ll be checking in periodically to see how much progress has been...
When the Trump administration took aim at free trade last year, Ryan Zoehner felt like he was under fire. "Our supply chain got caught in the crosshairs," said the CEO of Algo, a Vancouver-area manufacturer whose 165 employees make speakers, strobe lights and intercoms for use in schools, hospitals and airports. The maze of tariff walls thrown up by U.S...
When half a dozen industry and business representatives from Manitoba walked inside the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) office Tuesday, the province’s man in Washington jokingly called them the Avengers. “This has never happened before,” Manitoba Senior Representative to the United States Richard Madan told CTV News after their meeting with USTR staff. The Avengers left feeling optimistic, despite known...
Advisory committee member says talks with U.S. are progressing. Prime Minister Mark Carney said his negotiating team made "some progress" during trade talks in Washington this week, but there's "lots more to do" to land an overall agreement. Carney's comments on Thursday came as Canada-U.S. Trade minister Dominic LeBlanc and the country's chief trade negotiator, Janice Charette, briefed a special...
Former Liberal cabinet minister Stéphane Dion says he would not change a word in the Clarity Act—which he wrote and tabled in 2000—as the legislation is once again in the spotlight over separatist movements in Alberta and Quebec. Speaking to The Hill Times on June 3, Dion, the intergovernmental affairs minister under then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, called the legislation “perfect,”...
Ottawa wants to increase Canadians' use of artificial intelligence -- and it plans to do so through free AI training and legislation to tackle concerns like surveillance pricing and chatbot safety. Announcing the government's new AI strategy in Toronto on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said "globally, Canada ranks near the bottom of countries in AI training, in literacy and...
The federal government is going to take more time to consult on its proposals to change how major projects are reviewed. Ottawa last month released two discussion papers which proposed, among other things, approving major projects before they're reviewed and exempting certain projects from laws meant to protect species at risk. Critics, including Green Party Leader Liz May, have said...
Liberal MP David Myles (Fredericton–Oromocto, N.B.) will stay on as parliamentary secretary for Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller after cabinet approved an order-in-council shuffling him out of the position last week. Myles is currently listed as parliamentary secretary to Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin (Toronto–Danforth, Ont.), as well as secretary of state for nature Nathalie Provost (Châteauguay—Les Jardins-de-Napierville, Que.)...
Former Liberal leader and minister Stéphane Dion is not calling on Canada to become a member of the European Union (EU) — but rather a “full and integral member” of the European Political Community (EPC) to reinforce ties with the continent. Dion, who until recently served as Canada’s ambassador to France and Germany and special envoy to the EU, made...
The federal finance minister is standing by his government's projections after Ottawa's budgetary watchdog cast doubt on Ottawa's ability to hit a key fiscal anchor. Parliamentary Budget Officer Annette Ryan on Thursday released her office's first economic and fiscal update since she assumed the role in April. Ryan predicts annual deficits will average $4.6 billion higher than Ottawa projected in...
When Conservative MPs opposed to the federal government’s anti-hate bill in the Commons, they brandished Bibles to accentuate their argument that the proposed law could stymie religious freedom. Now, as Bill-C9 nears the end of its parliamentary journey in the Senate, Conservatives are raising the alarm that hundreds of thousands of postcards protesting the bill, have not been delivered by...
The B.C. Prosecution Service says Independent MLA Jordan Kealy, who represents Peace River North, has been charged with one count of sexual assault in Fort St. John. The service says the alleged offences occurred between Jan. 1 and Sept. 20, 2024. Court documents indicate the alleged offences took place in Cecil Lake, a rural area where Kealy farms north of...
The Postmedia-Leger survey also found that Canadians think Alberta’s separation would have a greater economic impact than Quebec's. Fewer than half of Albertans are certain that they would continue living in their newly independent province should it separate from Canada, according to a new Postmedia-Leger poll, as a referendum later this year is set to decide if the province wants...
TORONTO -- Prime Minister Mark Carney says he has not formed an opinion on Ontario Premier Doug Ford's plan to expand Toronto's island airport.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said Friday it had opened "multiple election fraud investigations" related to California's elections and sent a prosecutor to the county's vote-counting center.
BOSTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Friday struck down a Trump administration policy enacted after the shooting of two National Guard members that made it harder for immigrants from dozens of countries to stay and enter the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House passed legislation Thursday that would aid Ukraine and sanction key segments of the Russian economy, overriding objections from Republican leaders who warned the bill would undermine negotiations designed to achieve a comparable but stronger result.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Thursday that federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, his pick for acting director of national intelligence, would not be his "permanent" choice for the critical security post.
As this country seeks to diversify trade partners amid strained relations with the United States, a former top Canadian soldier is warning the Canadian government against pivoting to China at the expense of Ottawa’s relationship with Washington. “Geography matters,” said retired Gen. Wayne Eyre, former chief of the defence staff, said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday...
Former foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion says Canada needs to substantially staff up its embassies in Europe and set deadlines for following through on the flurry of agreements Brussels has signed with Ottawa. Dion's comments come after Canada's former military chief said Ottawa must stop cutting back on diplomats to boost defence spending. "These agreements and partnerships must not remain...
With United States President Donald Trump increasing pressure on Cuba, his country’s State Department is looking to Canada to build support for regime change in Havana. Foreign Affairs deputy minister Arun Thangaraj was at the U.S. State Department last week where he met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. During that meeting, the topic of Cuba came up...
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson joked there may be a place for Canada in the European Union to join “like-minded” nations as “the most Nordic country in the world outside the Nordics.” “European Union is obviously a matter of geography, you can hear that from the name,” Kristersson told CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos when asked for his opinion...
U.S. President Donald Trump says the U.S. blockade on ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz “will now be lifted.” “Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’ Say HELLO to your wives, husbands, parents, and families from me, your favorite President!” reads...
Canada and Australia cannot afford to be passive actors in the increasingly turbulent world of resource geopolitics.
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
In 2007, Roger Martin, then dean of the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, wrote a book called The Opposable Mind. It argued that the most successful leaders tend to be “integrative thinkers,” by which he meant they tackled problems holistically rather than breaking them down into component parts. Instead of seeking trade-offs, they are at ease with...
“Despite the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel which has resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries…Lebanon moved forward with the ban on antipersonnel landmines,” said the Ottawa-based group Mines Action Canada in a statement, celebrating the new addition.
Canada’s privacy laws are supposed to protect ordinary citizens from unwarranted intrusions into their personal lives. But they can also protect pedophiles. Dead pedophiles. Dead pedophiles from America.
After a long wait, Canada's AI strategy has arrived — a document that encourages people to learn and adopt the technology in the hopes of creating 250,000 new jobs. Host Catherine Cullen speaks with AI experts and skeptics Jake Hirsch-Allen, Kristen Thomasen and Hamish van der Ven about what it means for employment, children’s safety and the environment. Then, Minister...
First up this week, Prime Minister Carney summed up a critical week in the Canada-US trade discussions with the phrase, "some progress". So what does that mean? Plus the AI strategy. Then both Bruce Anderson and Chantal Heebert discuss the fall of an iconic broadcast network -- CBS and the "60 Minutes" debacle.
Peter Mazereeuw speaks with Senator Marilou McPhedran, who was at the centre of a controversy over documents she used to try and help Afghan women flee the Taliban in 2021—documents the government later said were false. Senate Ethics Officer James O'Reilly cleared McPhedran of wrongdoing in a report issued June 1.
At Issue this week: Mark Carney fends off accusations of driving Canada into a recession. What ordering the CRTC to back down over its 'Netflix tax' means for U.S. trade negotiations. And the simmering Liberal tensions over Mark Carney's leadership style.
